Most impactful wingsuit

[rbignon 0]

Was thinking back today on what wing suit model do you think impacted the wing suit community the most? Im sure some of the veterans can weight in a little better but what suit in your opinion was the one that redefined wing suiting or changed it significantly in terms of accessibility, easy of use, performance.

[piisfish 136]

Birdman Classic

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[Andy9o8 0]

Quote

impactful

Sigh.

[piisfish 136]

Andy9o8

Quote

impactful

Sigh.

The Birdman Impact did not hold its name pretty well

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[chemist 0]

the squirrel swift shook up the whole system

[flite 0]

For me, it was the Tonysuit bird series that really changed things.

[michalm21 0]

chemist

the squirrel swift shook up the whole system

Don't take it as an offense but you must be a young ninja since you mention Squirrel.

Revolutionary? I wasn't around when Birdman came out, but it must have been the first suit Robi/Yari designed, then I'd say followed by Jeff's designs at Tonysuits (Mach One, and more importantly the 'Bird' cut).
Actually, I'll say the Jeff's Tony 'bird' line was the first one that made me want to say 'wow, holy crap that makes so much more performance difference!'

[Bluhdow 31]

The internet is more fun when you understand sarcasm.

Apex BASE
#1816

[stayhigh 2]

Bird-Man.

which wingsuit actually impacted the ground most? Is it Pheonix Fly?

Bernie Sanders for President 2016

[verticalflyer 11]

stayhigh

Bird-Man.

which wingsuit actually impacted the ground most? Is it Pheonix Fly?

Seriously bad taste.

BM Classic for me in 2001 when I made 1st flight it was scary but the innovation of cutaway wings and integration without stitching into your rig made it accessible and safe. We had 3 flying in the Uk at the time and it was a case of read the manual and get out the door. From this all manner of amazinv things have opened up in both skydiving wingsuiting and BASE. It has probably made the public more aware of our sports than any other of our disciplines as its so close to the common dream of human flight.

Dont just talk about it, Do it!

[michalm21 0]

Bluhdow

The internet is more fun when you understand sarcasm.

Ha. I've never seen his name here soooo my sarcasm detector appeared to have a failure...

[DSE 3]

I'd suggest the Phantom from Robi made the most difference in the world overall, and it's the one everyone seems to still own and still be jumping/not many used ones available. The Phantom and it's cousin (the Shadow) are still the most-seen acrobatic suits out there.

IMO, the Tony SBird or Xbird was the first one that opened a lot of people to bigger suits, but no doubt, the Bird series changed the industry.

PF and Tony are still the most-copied suits out there as well.

[RMK 3]

From a European perspective, Birdman was a great name brand & logo, but the S-Fly Expert was there at the beginning and got the party going.

"Pain is the best instructor, but no one wants to attend his classes"

[hjumper33 0]

There have been a few sentinel suits, it would be really hard to just pick one. Its like a hall of fame, you cant just pick one. These are what stick out to me.

Birdman Classic: the OG, you cant argue this oen

V1: The first big suit, and from my understanding, the suit Robi really wanted to build, and the beginning of PF. This was probably one of the biggest jumps forward from prior designs ever in wingsuiting.

Phantom/P2: Solidifying the small suits place. Still as good today as they were 10 years ago.

Tony XS: The original mega suit. Watching Jeff pilot one of these things a day when the V2 was the max performance suit was utterly mind blowing. The wing modifications to these that became various birds were really important, but this was the first really functional mattress. (Sorry I dont count the nebula with webbies ;) )

Squirrel AURA: To me this was the suit that brought the big suit and terrain flying together in a totally different way. It became a new standard really quickly, and more than anything, it changed the way we order and are delivered wingsuits.


My low lights list:

S1-S3. Terrifyingly small leg wing (did my first base jumps in these)
Original Tony suits nebula: one word, webbies
Stealth 1/2 : never really could get these to do what i wanted

[Skwrl 56]

hjumper33

Original Tony suits nebula: one word, webbies

Thanks for bringing back some terrifying memories...

Skwrl Productions - Wingsuit Photography

Northeast Bird School - Chief Logistics Guy and Video Dork

[granpasc 0]

From Franz Reichelt to Jokke Sommer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCQr6TH8gtg

For me, it's Loic Jean Albert flying his Expert in fly by above Reunion island. (and not "proximity".... yet)

[johnmatrix 21]

The first Bird Man suit for sure (if only by default).

Regarding flight attire more generally, the original Phoenix Fly tracking suit would have to be up there.

[The111 1]

hjumper33

S1-S3. Terrifyingly small leg wing (did my first base jumps in these)

You shut your dirty mouth about my S3.

Never actually flew an S1, watched many people struggle with them, but also watched Nebelkopf kick ass in one as his first wingsuit.

But the S3, that suit was perfection. Flew very much like the P2/3 that came later, only with a little more forward speed, and no back inlets. To this day I dream about a S3 re-release with back inlets.

Agreed mostly with the rest of what you said, although I didn't fly many Vampires and know some who loved V1 and V3 but hated V2.

www.WingsuitPhotos.com

[SethInMI 156]

It has been fascinating watching the evolution over the years; the moment that I always will remember on this forum is when Dean Potter flew a Tonysuit from the Eiger to Grindelwald, and Yuri_Base, after a long time of hating on the "mattress" suits, admitted that those huge thick suits with the long wing roots may be the future of high glide ratio WS.

Yuri had all these software tools showing how the big suits faster starts gave them a big advantage. For a numbers guy like me it was pretty cool to see all the work he put into that.

It's flare not flair, brakes not breaks, bridle not bridal, "could NOT care less" not "could care less".

[freeflysoul 0]

piisfish

Birdman Classic

+1

3,2,1,C-YA!!!
V.
BASE #1075 / BMI #I-002 / PFI #042 / EGI #104

[bigbearfng 18]

DSE

I'd suggest the Phantom from Robi made the most difference in the world overall, and it's the one everyone seems to still own and still be jumping/not many used ones available. The Phantom and it's cousin (the Shadow) are still the most-seen acrobatic suits out there.

IMO, the Tony SBird or Xbird was the first one that opened a lot of people to bigger suits, but no doubt, the Bird series changed the industry.

PF and Tony are still the most-copied suits out there as well.

I always thought of the Tonysuits mach 1/super mach 1 as the first "big suits".

[Slater 0]

freeflysoul

***Birdman Classic

+1

Of course is BM Classic base on Patrick proto.

Before, 75 percent wingsuiters is die flying them.

After, maybe 1 percent, even count proxy guys!

Slater

McConkey es Dios

[SkymonkeyONE 3]

I'm with Matt on this one. I've been at it since the very first boogie Jari and Kim showed up at in the USA an I, at one time or another, owned at least one of every BM model. I still have a pristine S6 hanging in my locker. I have an S3 as well and I really, really loved those suits for everything except prolonged backflying (no vents). I've still got an S-Fly expert, A Phantom2, a Havok Carve, and a couple of other things hanging in my closet. I wish my belly had not gotten to big to fit into some of my other great suits that I ended up selling.

As far as "suits which made a significant difference" goes, here are my choices:

-Original BM Classic S.U.I.T because it's release system made it safe for all of us to give it a whirl.

-BM S3/S6: Just a fantastic handling suit with plenty of "flocking" power. A perfect size suit for instructional work.

-PF Phantom series, particularly P2 and later versions with ram-air vents: Allowed anyone to easily backfly without sinking out. EVERYONE should own a Phantom.

-PF Vampire 1: The beginning of fast, steeper-gliding suits. I bought my first one from Scotty Burns.

-Tony "Bird" series suits. This saved Tony's ass. They are great-flying suits. I've owned three Tony's and my favorite was the S-bird.

-PF Havok Carve: a "do everything " super-powerful, acro tool. Another suit I will never, ever sell.

Chuck

[kallend 1,804]

The111

***S1-S3. Terrifyingly small leg wing (did my first base jumps in these)

You shut your dirty mouth about my S3.

Never actually flew an S1,[/url].



First suit I owned was an S1. It made all suits that came after seem easy.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[Pendragon 1]

Me too. My Skyflyer was one of the originals given to Airspeed; still got it. Very easy to put into a spin!

The S3 OTOH was really quite easy to fly, and should be credited with paving the way for bigger suits as the industry figured out that bigger armwings alone was not the way forward

--
BASE #1182
Muff #3573
PFI #52; UK WSI #13